Monday, 31 January 2011

Dr Hamish Meldrum, the chairman of the British Medical Association, said: "Ploughing ahead with these changes as they stand, at such speed, at a time of huge financial pressures, and when NHS staff and experts have so many concerns, is a massive gamble.
"The BMA supports greater involvement of clinicians in planning and shaping NHS services, but the benefits that clinician-led commissioning can bring are threatened by other parts of the bill."

It's funny how all these people talk about risks, and how "it's risky right now" or "the change is too fast". None of these people seems to ever be willing to put any more meat on these bones, to explain the sort of risks that are involved.

I suspect the reason for their opposition to speed is that they've been caught on the hop. Andrew Lansley has produced a set of reforms that they didn't expect, and is implementing them in a very rapid timetable, and what these producers are trying to do is to extend the time to introduce them so that they can mount a more professional campaign of fear than what they can do in the time available.